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Episode 617: NARC (Patreon)

Published:
2024-06-03 11:00:14
Imported:
2024-06
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Patrons, whassup? Diamond Feit here. Are any of you cops? You know you have to tell me if I ask, right?

No, no, I'm just playing…but if I sound on edge, it's because this week's podcast deals with a sensitive matter: drugs. Drugs may or may not be legal where you live at present, but back in the 1980s, in the United States, they were the hot topic amongst legislators and law enforcement. Whether textual or subtextual, tales of drug abuse and drug busts permeated countless movies and television shows of the era.

Video games were not exempt, but one game in particular handled America's War on Drugs like no other medium could: NARC cast players as ruthless agents of prohibition and threw an entire army of druggies into their crosshairs. Was it satire, or was it sincere? Not even the people behind the game seem to take a stand!

Tune in as Jeremy Parish, David Oxford, and I look back at both the video game NARC and the real-life policies that shaped its hyper-reality. Also, ahead of its 20th anniversary, we remember the failed 2005 reboot that tried to cash in on the arcade game's notoriety.

Art by Nick Wanserski; edits by Greg Leahy.

  • 10:34 - Mike Curb Congregation: "More Than Ever"

  • 20:19 - Kim Wilde: "Kids in America"

  • 28:13 - Grandmaster Flash: "White Lines (Don't Do It)" (2005 Soundtrack)

  • 33:53 - NARC (Arcade): K.R.A.K. Street

  • 44:14 - NARC (Arcade): Junkyard | Thief (1981 Film): Burning Bar

  • 52:29 - NARC (Arcade): The Pipeline

  • 1:02:33 - NARC (Arcade): Swamp

  • 1:12:30 - NARC (Arcade): The Bridge

  • 1:21:14 - NARC (Arcade): NARC Rap

  • 1:27:23 - Jelly Joe feat. Wish Master: "N.A.R.C." (2005 Soundtrack)

  • 1:34:46 - Lynyrd Skynyrd: "That Smell" (2005 Soundtrack)

  • 1:40:58 - The Stranglers: "Golden Brown" (2005 Soundtrack)

  • Closing - Pixies: "Theme from Narc"

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Comments

CapNChris

Thank you for this episode and the lengthy preamble introducing the historical and context before even discussing the game. Six days out of seven, I think video games should be political. Just like any other artistic or creative medium, I don't see why video games should not be political if that is the desire of their creators. Although like other mediums, video games are also subject to market forces, which would likely preclude much of that... Overdose deaths in the U.S. have soared (2023 estimate is 108k deaths) as increasingly dangerous drugs are being produced, sold, and consumed. And while I have a skeptical view of the war on drugs, society doesn't otherwise seem to be making any efforts commensurate with the size of this issue from any other angle. So maybe that makes me a reluctant supporter of the war on drugs? I'm still waiting for the war on poverty to be re-declared.

Stuart Gipp

Winners don't do drugs, with the small exceptions of literally every famous musician and actor

TheLupineOne

Well the music in this podcast rocked my socks off. Very redolent of Williams' pinball tables at the time, and no wonder, it's by Brian Schmidt, although I know more of his work for Data East's pinball tables of the early 90s.